Next Game - No Main Questline!

[Herculine]

I agree that the world design and lack of exploration for Fallout New Vegas was very disappointing, but I think our complaints about that deserve a separate thread since it's really a separate issue from whether or not games should have a main quest and how well it should be written.

[Nohbodey]

Seriously though, what was up with the quest to "find the men who shot you" when some of the first npcs you talk to say he probably came from Vegas and it was obvious that's where he would be. Then the only way they could stop you from just going there right away was by placing high level enemies and invisible walls in the way so you couldn't just cross the mountains, in loo of any actual mystery or writing.

 

So what? Why would it be a mystery? The guy is shooting you in the freaking head, why would he think it necessary to hide where he's coming from? Also, what's the problem with there being high level enemies there? It's just an incentive for you to do all this exploring everyone's going on about. And at any rate, it is possible to make it to Vegas early through either stocking up and going North from Goodsprings through the Cazadores, or using the mountains to sneak past the Deathclaws on the main road north.

 

As for the idea for no main quest line, I think it's an awful idea. I, personally, wouldn't have any incentive to play the game at all unless I knew there was some kind of goal to be working toward. Otherwise I'm just playing in an annoying time sink sandbox that's effectively wasting my time. I know there are those who don't really care about the main storyline, but its existence doesn't prevent you from going out and exploring things, doing side quests, etc. If what you're saying is that the main storyline should be scrapped so as to have more time to make more side quests, then I think you're being extremely self-centered by depriving those who play the game for the main storyline of any reason to play the game. It'd also deprive gaming in general, since Fallout has always had a pretty good main storyline, supplemented by some of the side quests it offers.

[DonPrestoni]

I don't want to see a game without a main quest personally, but I wouldn't be opposed to one coming out with a check box in the options. If you had the option to turn the main quest off, then why not.

 

I a couple of mods for Oblivion where the main quest was off, neatly done as well, but due to the way the game engine worked the scorch marks around the first oblivion gate were always there. I had a similar mod for FO3, that was much easier to impliment and has less in the way of annoying tell tail graphics showing that something was wrong.

 

I'm sure there will be one for FONV as well before long.

 

I don't want a sand box only game, but I don't mind games with a good solid sand box mode.

[ita]

What is the point of playing a RPG if there's no main questline. Without one, you'd essentially have a singleplayer WoW.

 

Sandbox elements can very well be written into a game while having a main quest but I'd personally get bored pretty quickly with a pure sandbox game.

[Thedragonemperor]

In this argument, it really depends on what kind of rpg comes out of the woodwork.

 

If you want a jrpg, a strong story is essential. It really holds the whole game together. Now obviously, future fallout games probably won't be like that if Bethesda puts a focus towards them.

 

I believe that a good western rpg is what Bethesda really excels at. While Obsidian did write a pretty good story, I feel that it wasn't particularly suited for this new type of Fallout. It relied too much on a linear path and it just didn't work out if you can free roam. While Bethesda did have some issues with that in Fallout 3, I think they handled it pretty well. The quests did rely on each other but not too much. I feel that New Vegas had each quest relying on each previous one a little too much. If you managed to make it to New Vegas and get in, everything was screwy. Even if you didn't know about Benny, it was just there. It was a good story, but not for a free roaming fallout game.

 

So, in summary, I feel that a main quest is absolutely required. However, it should be done differently from New Vegas. In a game where there was too little to see and a strict line of quests, it just didn't work out. When Bethesda did it, they did it pretty well. A good sense of exploration led to some interesting quest ordering, but it was never wacky. It just worked. I think Obsidian should really consider how to work on a main quest in a game meant to be extremely free-form.

[Fatalmasterpiece]

While Obsidian did write a pretty good story...

 

See right there is where I have to disagree with you. This is what happened to me the entire game of New Vegas, my thoughts in "quotation"...

 

-Benny shoots you, you have to find where Benny is "Oh, I bet he lives in New Vegas, he sure doesn't look like a wastelander..."

-Figure out what the platinum chip is " it's round, silver and important. I bet this is just like Escape from LA and the chip is a little computer disc with important defense system commands on it"

-The radio says no one has heard from Nipton in a while "I bet that nasty Legion group I heard about killed everyone there, everyone is probably going to be dead"

-Guy runs around raving about winning the lottery "He probably won some kinda drawing to see who lived and died based on all the dead bodies and fires I see..."

-No one has seen Mr. House for years and his robots control the area "So he's like President Eden and is going to be a big computer screen or is some kinda cyborg wired into his computer I bet"

-The White Glove Society is weird and has some skeletons in their closet "Oh, so they eat people? Big mystery there..."

-Beware the plants kill and no one has come back "Ok some crazy plant experiment made living plants that are going to try to kill me?"

 

It was like watching a terrible M. Night Shamilan movie where you can easily guess all the cliche plot twists and every character and detail is transparent, lacking surprise or depth.

 

The game would have been way better without a main questline and their pathetic attempt to rewrite Escape from New Vegas Beyond Thunderdome with a Fist Full of Dollars part Duex, and just focus on interesting characters, vaults, factions and finished creating the game world like Lucky 38s view from the Penthouse.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Fatalmasterpiece

[Thedragonemperor]

Meh, some people don't pay too much attention to the smaller details. I, myself, found some of the twists an average surprise in my first play through. Regardless, my main point still stands. Their story is way too stiff. It just doesn't work for a free roaming game at all.

[ARavinWolf]

Bethesda did a better job of the storyline than Obsidian and I kind of agree, New Vegas was way too easy, predictable and generally narrowly thought up. The map seems a lot smaller, there seem to be less mobs, and it's very much like a simple dot-to-dot.

 

Meh, it was okay but frankly, I think FO3 was better.

[Thedragonemperor]

Obsidian isn't horrible at writing stories. When I look at games like Kotor 2: The Sith Lords, I see the potential they can have. However, I think they might be more used to an older fallout game. The older fallout games were much more linear and couldn't do something like walk straight to Vegas. You went from point-to-point. If the new Black Isle tries to go for another attempt, I think they may have to get used to a new style bethesda has done a great job of perfecting themselves.